Here With Me
by vicvic221
Summary: As Harry's marriage begins to disintegrate around him and his extended family turns on him, Luna Lovegood extends the invitation to him for a temporary escape from it all. Upon accepting, he rekindles not only an old friendship, but discovers a love that he never quite anticipated. When the time comes for him to return to his old life, will he be able to turn away? Harry/Luna


**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters mentioned herein. They are licensed to J.K. Rowling and other respective copyright holders. I'm merely lucky enough to have the permission to play with them when the mood strikes.

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_"The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way that we expect."_

_- Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, _J.K. Rowling

It had been several years since she had last seen Harry.

Luna sighed softly as her mind began to wander again and slowly paced across her front porch, folding her arms across her chest as her brow came together. It was strange that this was happening so suddenly. For Rolf, she would have understood. He had always been so spontaneous, appearing for dates and inviting her out on his adventures on a whim... Harry, though, had always been controlled, never just out of the blue.

Perhaps Rolf's spontaneity had something to do with why it had all fallen apart in the end, she wondered as she eased herself down onto one of the wooden chairs that overlooked her property. They had moved to Australia shortly after Lysander's birth and after several years of rugged bliss, exploring and documenting the names of little known flora and fauna, Rolf had disappeared, resurfacing after months of silence to say that he was leaving.

She bit down on her cheek at the memory of her ex-husband. His dark brown eyes had been so kind as he delivered the death blow, yet his insistence that they had simply _grown apart_, had rung hollow for Luna. She had known, in her heart, that the truth was there was someone better for them both. She had always known this. She often liked to think that in one of Rolf's flights of fancy he had found someone who was truly a fit for him, that complemented him in a way that she could not.

He had eventually left Australia, off to traipse through southeast Asia in search of a rare flowering plant that could be used to cure the warts caused by gimblywiggit spores. The boys, Lorcan and Lysander, had stayed with Luna in the outback of Australia. Rolf visited occasionally, bringing them treasures from far off countries before taking the children on wilderness adventures. She smiled softly at the idea, thinking of the two boys who were currently tucked away in their beds, likely dreaming of hunting crumple-horned snorkacks or swimming with mermaids. They were so like she and Rolf when they were young that it amazed her sometimes...

"Mummy?"

Luna turned, her eyebrows going up as Lysander peered around the front door. "Yes, darling?" she asked as she got to her feet. "What's wrong?"

The little boy fidgeted for a moment as she approached him, clutching his stuffed rabbit closer to his chest as he avoided her gaze. "The monsters are back," he mumbled finally.

Luna smiled softly, crouching down before her youngest son and carefully brushed some of his light blonde hair from his face. "Where are they?"

Lysander nuzzled his face closer to the rabbit's floppy ears, shaking his head.

"It's perfectly all right, darling," Luna told him gently, "tell me where they are."

"Under the bed," he conceded after a minute, before saying in a rush, "But you can't tell Lorcan, Mummy! He'll call me a baby again and I'm not!"

"Of course not, Lysander," she winked at him, whispering, "it will be our secret, I promise."

The little boy relaxed, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he nodded. "Okay," he agreed, hugging his bunny closer. He turned, looking back towards the stairs and then at Luna again, his large brown eyes shining as they met her own.

"Come now," Luna held out her hand to the boy, gently grasping her son's hand in her own as she led him inside of the house and up the creaky stairs, guiding him back to his bedroom. Lysander, the younger of the two boys, had been prone to nightmares and seeing monsters beneath his bed since watching a muggle film with Lorcan and her father one evening. Xenophilius had insisted that the bad dreams would pass with a bit of draught, but Luna had dismissed the idea quickly. She wouldn't be giving a five year old a sleep draught to cure a common fear. While Lysander had gradually begun improving, Lorcan still took pleasure in mocking his younger brother for his fears.

"In here," Lysander pointed to his bedroom as they padded down the hall. "Will you get them out?"

She tightened her grasp on the boy's hand, pulling her wand from inside of her cardigan, and stepped inside of the room with him. Lysander's hand tightened on hers and he clutched his bunny tighter, watching as his mother lifted her wand into the air and murmured a spell under her breath. A faint blue light illuminated the tip before levitating from its tip and disappearing into the room. Luna could feel the calm wash over her and as she looked down at Lysander, she could see that he too had relaxed, the calming charm having worked.

"Do you want to see under the bed?" she asked him.

He hesitated, eyeing the dark space warily.

"You come, too," he said at last, beginning to edge forward. He stopped at the bed's side and looked up at her, chewing on his lip as he asked, "Can you turn on the light?"

Luna nodded, murmuring, _"Lumos,"_ under her breath, and watched as the tip of her wand glowed brightly. Together, she and her son crouched down, peering into the dark space beneath his bed where there was nothing to be found, save for a few toys and a dirty sock. She turned, watching as the boy inspected the bed's underside carefully before drawing back and sitting on his heels.

"Okay," he nodded. "They're gone."

Luna smiled, "Then let's get you back into bed, shall we?"

The little boy quickly crawled back into his bed, pulling his covers over himself as he hunkered down beneath the duvet and clutched his rabbit close to his chest. Luna smoothed his blankets carefully, tucking them around her son gently before she eased herself down onto the edge of the bed and reached out, gently pushing his hair back from his forehead.

"You have nothing to be afraid of," she murmured. "No monsters will hurt you as long as I am here."

He smiled at her, then shifted uncomfortably. After a few moments, he asked timidly, "Mum, do you think I'm a baby?"

"You're my baby," she returned soothingly, "and you always will be."

"But Lorcan says -"

"Don't listen to your brother," she said, shaking her head. "You have nothing to be ashamed of and sometimes, being afraid makes us stronger. It's perfectly acceptable to be afraid, Lysander."

"But you and Dad aren't," he argued, frowning slightly. "You never get scared of the monsters."

Luna sighed, shaking her head, "Sometimes I get scared, too."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Of monsters?"

"Of all sorts of things," she admitted to him, truthful. She was scared right now, as a matter of fact. Scared of what the future would bring in the next few days.

Lysander frowned and then scooted over in his bed, "Will you stay with me?" he asked her. "To keep them away."

Luna lay down beside him, draping an arm around the little boy and pressed her lips to his temple. "Of course I will," she whispered to him. She fell silent, holding her son close as he fell back to sleep, and allowed her eyes to wander across the room. The Antipodean Opaleye that she had painted on his ceiling was curled up in the corner, sleeping soundly, and the hand painted trees on Lysander's walls were still, songbirds and owls roosting in the tree limbs, while fairies flew between them. She continued to lay in silence, occasionally combing her fingers through Lysander's light brown hair as he dozed beside her.

Hermione had sent her an owl again today, letting her know just a bit more about what had happened between Harry and Ginny. Apparently it had all been very big and very ugly, with lots of shouting and at least one strong hex from Ginny after Harry pushed just too many wrong buttons. Luna shifted uncomfortably at the thought. She'd never quite understood why some people insisted on resorting to violence in their arguments.

The papers were, of course, sensationalising every little tidbit that leaked out. They'd separated, the children were staying with Ginny while Harry 'stayed with friends' - Ron and Hermione. She resisted a snort at the idea and thought back to Hermione's letter. She could just hear the stress in Hermione's voice as she read the words on the page; Ron probably wasn't being the most accommodating host given that it was his sister Harry had had a row with and separated from. Knowing Ron, he'd probably taken to simply ignoring Harry and passing messages through Hermione to the house guest, he'd never quite grown up like the rest of them. He still had some of his more immature qualities and ignoring people was one that certainly hadn't gone away.

In a way, she was sad to be so far away, but she was also happy. She'd sent Harry an owl after learning he was staying with Ron and Hermione several days earlier and had extended to him the option of staying in Australia for sometime. It wasn't with the intention of angering Ginny, after all, they had just seen each other at Christmas not so long ago - well, if you considered four years not so long ago, that is - and were still quite amicable with one another, but rather because she hoped Harry could escape the press as they hounded him for information.

Like sharks, they had smelled blood in the water and were pouncing, looking to rip open the story. So far _The Quibbler _had remained silent, mostly out of Luna's insistence, though she was quite certain that there would be some young writer who decided to write a tell-all expose about how nargles had brought bad luck on the Potter marriage after an entirely innocent kiss beneath the mistletoe last Christmas. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the thought and made a mental note to owl her father in the morning to remind him that _The Quibbler _would not be running any stories about Harry and Ginny Potter's impending divorce. They had had the wizarding world's most highly publicised marriage in a century and now they would have the most highly publicised divorce since Catherine Howard was beheaded by Henry VIII.

She sighed quietly, then snuggled closer to Lysander, thinking deeply.

She'd never admitted it before, not to Hermione and _certainly_ not to Ginny, but she had taken a fancy to Harry once upon a time. But she had always been far too shy, far too absorbed in her imagination and dreams of exploring the world in search of magical creatures her father had told her about to pursue him. In the end, he had married Ginny and it was only then that she realised what she had lost. Harry was lost to her forever in that moment, yet she had been genuinely happy for the couple despite the pain she felt on the inside. She called Ginny a friend, after all.

She'd left England soon after their marriage, travelling to South America where she met Rolf in the Amazon. They had fallen in love with one another and they had travelled the world together. She'd forgotten her feelings for Harry, absorbed instead in the young man that believed in her wildest dreams and encouraged her spontaneity. They were a perfect pair, everyone had said when she had returned to England with him and, to her relief, she had found that her stomach no longer flip flopped at the sight of Harry Potter when he and Ginny paid a visit to the Lovegood's home during the holidays. Eventually, she and Rolf had gone to Sweden in search of crumple horned snorkacks. He'd proposed there, in the dead of winter, when they had at last caught up to one of the creatures and she had accepted, thrilled.

Every time she allowed herself to think about this, her chest tightened with guilt. She wasn't trying to interfere with their marriage or push their separation along in inviting Harry to come to Australia. She dreaded the thought of Ginny thinking ill of her. She wasn't trying to choose sides, she simply was trying to be a good friend to someone that had been there for her for so many years when she had needed a shoulder to lean upon.

Harry was her friend, she was simply extending the invitation to him to get away for a little while. He didn't need to have all of the pressure that was weighing down upon him at work and now at home. Hermione had said Ron wouldn't even look at Harry and that when Molly had stopped in for Hugo's birthday she'd simply ignored him like a piece of unsightly furniture. Hermione had been supportive of the idea, even encouraged Luna to extend the invitation - although Luna secretly believed this was to ease the tension in her own home as Ron had apparently broken a plate one evening and caused Harry to walk out.

Luna closed her eyes, clearing her head quickly, and decided that there was no sense in her dwelling upon any of the possibilities. She had already made her choice and decided her fate in inviting Harry down to stay for a few weeks while he sorted things with Ginny. There was no taking back the invitation now. If this ended her friendship with Ginny though... Her stomach turned over uneasily at the idea and she sighed again.

She didn't want to think about that.

She just wanted it to be all right.

She was scared.

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**A/N:** Sooo I know that I promised I'd get Counting Stars up at some point in the near future, but this little plot bunny dropped into my lap over the weekend and I couldn't ignore it. So I'm running with it simultaneously. I thought it'd be interesting to look at how Luna grows up and changes and how the other characters have changed as well over the years and to ultimately get to put forth a story that contains my OTP, Harry/Luna.


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